On December 6, 2024 at Lincoln South Rotary Club, we heard from Tracy Edgerton President of the Lincoln Community Foundation.
Tracy started by thanking us for inviting her to visit our club. She said she is grateful for our relationship with the Lincoln Community Foundation and appreciates our investment in our community and all that we do - not only through Rotary but in our individual lives.
There are about 80 agencies with funds set up through the Lincoln Community Foundation. Some are expendable and others are endowments (principal is invested and the generated revenue is disbursed).
This service that they provide is important to organizations because many cannot afford individual financial advisors to manage their charitable funds and ensure they are invested wisely. It helps ensure the future of the organization.
The Lincoln South Rotary Club Foundation is one of the organizations that is a member of the Lincoln Community Foundation. We have an expendable fund and recently set up an endowment fund for our scholarship program. Since we are a member of the Lincoln Community Foundation, we are able to participate in Give To Lincoln Day making us eligible for matching funds.
The Lincoln Community Foundation has a robust scholarship program. In 2024 they provided $570,000 in scholarships through 58 different communities.
Tracy reported that, since there will be new opportunities to other Nebraska communities in the future, the Lincoln Community Foundation will bring their focus back to primarily serve Lincoln.
She shared that one valuable program is to help individuals with a charitable heart to their community. They can discuss their passions, find out the areas where they feel they can do the most good, and help them focus their charitable giving toward the organizations that support those passions.
The Lincoln Community Foundation is also a grant-making organization. They regularly award grants into the community using their funds or those from donors. They tried to make the grant process as easy and friendly as possible so they created an open door grant process. Non profit organizations can apply for $20,000 once per year for programs and operations. It is important that they connect with the community and get the money out into the community - put it to work.
Tracy explained that, as a leader in the community, they are positioned to be a convener of people that want to talk about issues facing the community. The discussions may be about quality affordable care, making connections, and building / supporting infrastructure. The conversations may be about what is done well and where changes are needed. By making connections they can help people needing a leg up - finding the resources that will help them.
Additionally, the conversations inspire the community to give and lead. Participants want to ensure that Lincoln is a community where everyone is thriving. Through the Lincoln Community Foundation and these conversations, we can help the organizations that are serving our community.
The Prosper Lincoln is an ongoing program. It started about ten years ago with the Lincoln Community Foundation working with other organizations to study our community. Data was collected that showed where things are working well and where attention is needed such as new areas of poverty that were identified. They considered how to use the data in a positive way to find ways to work together for change. That was the beginning of Prosper Lincoln. The 2025 focus of Prosper Lincoln will be Early Childhood - not just education but health and welfare, and affordable housing.
Tracy shared that about ten charitable people reach out to the Lincoln Community Foundation annually with an idea - a population that they want to help - a passion that they have or a need that they feel needs to be met. As they talk through the idea, they often learn of organizations that are serving in those areas. That also helps match charitable people with the organizations that support their passions.
BIO
Tracy Edgerton was appointed as President/CEO of the Lincoln Community Foundation in July 2024. Before her appointment to lead the Foundation, she served as its Vice President of Philanthropy Services and General Counsel. Throughout her career, Edgerton has led efforts to build community by investing in relationships. She has more than 25 years of experience in planned gift fundraising, nonprofit management, law, and estate and tax planning. Prior to her work at the Foundation, she managed the gift planning program at the University of Nebraska Foundation for more than 10 years.
Complementing her professional experience, Edgerton has served on various civic and volunteer associations including the Lincoln-Lancaster County Planning Commission, Charitable Gift Planners of Nebraska, Nebraska State Bar Association and the Lincoln Estate Planning Council. She volunteers as a Lincoln TeamMates mentor and has served on the Abendmusik at First Plymouth board of directors.